The 3M Report: Week 15
Welcome to the week 15 edition of the 3M report; a look back on all the magic, mayhem, and mishaps of the weekend games. Let’s get into the games that helped determine who advanced to the week 16 fantasy championship week.
On Thursday night we had a sloppy NFC West matchup between the recently Fisher-less Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson, Tyler Lockett, and to a lesser extent, Doug Baldwin all helped their owners advance. Wilson especially rebounded after a disastrous week 14 fantasy output. Lockett finally had that breakout game we expected from him in the in offseason. He hooked up on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Wilson in the fourth quarter, sealing the 24-3 Seahawks victory. Todd Gurley’s disappointing sophomore season continued as the Rams offense failed to get going once again. Jared Goff was replaced by Case Keenum late after the rookie took a big hit at the end of a scramble from Richard Sherman. Goff suffered a concussion on the play and is in the protocol.
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In the first Saturday night game of the 2016 season, Matt Moore threw four touchdown passes in relief of the injured Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins blew out the Jets 34-13. The bulk of Moore’s 236 passing yards went to Jarvis Landry who took a short slant 66 yards for a touchdown as part of his three catch 108-yard game. Bryce Petty continues to make a fantasy WR1 out of Robby Anderson. The pair hooked up four times for 80 yards and a touchdown before Petty left the game after sustaining a chest injury when he got crushed by Ndamukong Suh and Cameron Wake. It seems crazy considering all the great seasons he has had, but Wake also had his first career interception in this game. If you started Bilal Powell on Saturday in PPR leagues you were ecstatic. He didn’t score a touchdown, but he did catch 11 passes for 78 yards to go with 84 rushing yards.
It was so cold in Chicago that the “C” decal flew off Kadeem Carey’s helmet when he was hit by Joe Thomas. Several key drops including an easy one by Davante Adams in the end zone limited the fantasy output of Aaron Rodgers today. He tried to do it himself by rushing on back to back goal-to go-downs in the 3rd quarter after the Adams drop but came up one yard short of the end zone. Ty Montgomery, on the other hand, is clearly the Packers best option at running back. He went off on Sunday, getting into the end zone twice on the ground to go with 162 yards on 16 carries. I’m pretty sure no one started Deonte Thomas in fantasy but if you rolled out Alshon Jeffery or Cameron Meredith then you were rewarded with nice production. The Bears battled back to tie this one up 27-27 but with about a minute to go, Rodgers found Jordy Nelson for a 60-yard bomb. Mason Crosby knocked in the game-winning field goal as time expired. The final two weeks of the NFL season for the Packers is setting up beautifully. They pulled within one game of the division lead on Sunday and finish up with both the Vikings and the Lions. The week 17 matchup with the Lions will likely determine who wins the NFC North and who is sitting at home in the first week of the playoffs.
Spencer Ware continues to underwhelm. Last week I talked about how he hasn’t looked like the same player since the concussion earlier this season. There was more of that today on a particularly depressing series late in the second quarter when Ware was stuffed on a third and goal from the one. On the following fourth and goal play, Reid went back to Ware and once again he was stopped short of the goal line. Luckily for him, Kansas City has this guy named Tyfreak Hill who took his first carry of the game 68 yards to the house. As a receiver, Hill was held catchless on three targets. Exotic smash mouth was in full effect for the Titans on Sunday. Rookie Derrick Henry scored both touchdowns for his team but Demarco Murray was also heavily involved with 141 yards from scrimmage. An extra point on Henry’s second touchdown would have tied the game at 17-17 but head coach Mike Mularkey opted to go for two and get the win. Marcus Mariota was under pressure immediately and was unable to convert. Kansas City was unable to get enough first downs to run out the clock. With about a minute left to go, Mariota got the ball back and completed passes to Rishard Matthews and Delanie Walker, setting up Ryan Succop for the game-winning 53-yard field goal.
Marqise Lee has been the best Jaguars wide receiver this season. I know that hurts Allen Robinson owners, but it’s true. On Sunday, Lee became the first Jacksonville player to score a return touchdown in nine seasons. Robinson dropped what would have been a one-handed touchdown pass that he tried to cradle against his body when the defender held his other arm back. It was certainly pass interference but you have to feel like Robinson would have caught that ball in 2015. Blake Bortles and Brock Osweiler have been two of the worst starting quarterbacks in 2016. In week 15 Osweiler was benched and Bortles probably should have been. The Jaguars quarterback has killed his team and fantasy owners of his weapons all season. Osweiler threw two terrible interceptions before being replaced not by Brandon Weeden, but by the long forgotten Tom Savage. The former fourth-round draft pick didn’t turn the ball over and led the Texans back from a 20-11 fourth quarter deficit for the comeback victory, 21-20. After compiling an incredible 14-48 record as the Jaguars head coach, Gus Bradley was finally put out of his misery on Sunday after the loss.
Ben Roethlisberger hit Eli Rogers for the go-ahead fourth quarter touchdown in Cincinnati to give the Steelers a 24-20 win over the Bengals. Antonio Brown, who was held scoreless in this one, passed Marvin Harrison’s record for most receptions in a four-season stretch. Brown had one that was called back on a penalty and finished with a pedestrian three for 58. Not exactly what you were looking for from your stud WR1 in the semifinals. In kicker required leagues, Chris Boswell, and his 6 field goals probably won you your week. He scored the first 15 points of the game for Pittsburgh.
Despite not playing very well for most of the game, Andy Dalton led his team to a 20-6 lead, scoring on each of his first four possessions. That’s when the bottom fell out. In the second half, the Bengals had four possessions that resulted in three punts and one interception. This offense just isn’t the same without A.J. Green. Brandon LaFell came through on Sunday with seven catches for 91 yards but had a key drop late in the game where the ball popped up and LaFell was unable to locate it before it hit the ground. The Bengals will miss the playoffs in 2016 and the Steelers continue to roll.
Adrian Peterson returned to the field for the first time since tearing his meniscus in week 2, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Minnesota from getting completely embarrassed at home in a 34-6 shellacking by the Indianapolis Colts. Peterson was held to 22 yards on six carries and caught one pass for one yard, but also lost a fumble. The other future hall of fame running back in this game, Frank Gore, had a 101-yard game on the ground but was vultured twice at the goal line by Robert Turbin. Gore passed Tony Dorsett for 10th all-time on the yards from scrimmage list. Andrew Luck threw a fourth quarter touchdown to Phillip Dorsett, capping a 250-yard two touchdown game for the quarterback against a tough defense that made guys like Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton look like scrubs. The Colts are still alive in the playoff hunt but travel to Oakland next week for another tough game.
I thought the New York Giants offense was going to be incredible this season, but it is their defense that has kept them in the playoff picture. Today was no different as even without Jason Pierre-Paul, they held the Lions to just six points. Golden Tate torched them on eight catches for 122 yards but otherwise, Matthew Stafford and the Detroit offense had no answers. The Lions had a shot at a touchdown but Zach Zenner fumbled at the end of a seven-yard run and Olivier Vernon recovered in the end zone. Odell Beckham made another ridiculous one-handed catch on his four-yard touchdown and the rookie Sterling Shepard had a nice touchdown that capped the Giants 75-yard opening drive. Giants win 17-6 and move to 10-4 on the season.
There’s a good chance that Baltimore could have lost in overtime on Sunday, but after Carson Wentz ran in the game-tying touchdown, head coach Doug Pederson elected to go for the two-point conversion and the win. Much like the Titans attempt, it failed. Unlike the Titans, there wasn’t enough time left on the clock to recover and the Ravens take this one 27-26 to stay alive in the playoff hunt. Joe Flacco threw an interception from the Philadelphia 11-yard line or it wouldn’t have been as close as the final score indicates. Baltimore should be worried about their formerly league-best rushing defense. After getting beat up on the ground in back to back games they have to be concerned. Ryan Mathews gashed them for 128 yards and a touchdown and it won’t get easier next week when they face Le’Veon Bell on Christmas day.
Robert Griffin played better in his second game back from injury but it still wasn’t nearly enough as the Browns lost their 14th game of the season to the Bills 33-13. LeSean McCoy was huge with 153 yards and two rushing touchdowns in his best game of the season. There’s not a lot else to say about this relatively meaningless game other than it keeps the Bills on the fringes of the playoff picture since the Broncos lost to the Patriots later in the day.
Derek Carr and the Raiders narrowly avoided a second straight loss to a divisional rival but scored two field goals in the fourth quarter t get the comeback win over the Chargers 19-16.
Amari Cooper continued his streak of disappointing fantasy games down the stretch, catching just one pass for 28 yards. Michael Crabtree continues to be Carr’s favorite target. He had 80 yards as well as Carr’s only touchdown pass of the day. Kenneth Farrow wasn’t the plug and play fantasy option some thought he might be in his first start filling in for the injured Melvin Gordon. Farrow finished with just 39 yards on 15 carries and fumbled twice, losing one of them. This game was kind of ridiculous in that 75% or more of the fans in Qualcomm Stadium were wearing silver and black. It was basically a road game for the Chargers. It’s really no surprise that this team has played its last season in San Diego.
Tom Brady really didn’t need to do much to get his team a 16-3 over the Broncos in Denver. Deion Lewis had 95 yards rushing on a career-high 18 carries but LeGarrette Blount got the rushing touchdown after Trevor Siemian threw a horrible pass to Emmanuel Sanders and Ryan Logan picked it off.
It’s tough watching Carlos Hyde play football. You can really see the frustration in him as he goes out every week and tries to carry his team to victory. I would love to see Hyde in a real NFL offense, but alas, he is stuck on one of the worst franchises in the league. The 49ers were blown out in Atlanta 41-13 and Matt Ryan only needed to throw the ball 23 times. Devonta Freeman dominated with 139 yards and three rushing touchdowns. A cast of rejects from other teams continue to fill in admirably for Julio Jones who missed another week with a turf toe injury. Aldrick Robinson caught four balls for 111 yards and Taylor Gabriel scored another touchdown this week to go along with his 60 receiving yards.
The final afternoon game was an offensive clinic put on by the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. The teams combined for 89 points but the Saints got the win, outlasting the Cardinals 48-41. If you somehow survived Drew Brees’ 0 touchdown three interception week 14 performance and went back to him in week 15 you were rewarded with 389 yards and four touchdowns. Brandin Cooks showed us why you suffer through his down weeks. He no doubt sent many fantasy owners through to the title game with his seven catch, 186-yard, two touchdown performance. David Johnson got in the end zone twice for the Cardinals and went over 100 yards from scrimmage for the 15th consecutive week but it wasn’t enough to get the win for his team. Those two touchdowns give him 30 touchdowns in the first 30 games of his career.
Sunday Night Football featured two of the NFL’s most exciting young quarterbacks in Jameis Winston and Dak Prescott. The Cowboys dominated the first half getting out to a 17-6 lead on rushing touchdowns by Prescott and fellow rookie Ezekiel Elliot. The Buccaneers stormed back in the third quarter, scoring the first 14 points of the second half when Winston hooked up with both Cameron Brate and Adam Humphries. The Cowboys tied it up 20-20 with a field goal in the fourth quarter. On the following drive, Winston took a shot downfield and was picked off, setting up another Dan Bailey field goal which put the Cowboys up 23-20. The Buccaneers were unable to capitalize on a rare Jason Witten fumble and the Cowboys added another field goal that would end up being the final points of the game. Dallas takes it 26-20.
That will do it for the week 15 wrap up. I hope Christmas Eve brings fantasy championships to everyone out there. Merry Christmas to everyone and I’ll be back with you again in week 16.
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Creator and Co-host of Dynasty Game night, the fantasy football game show.
Creator and host of the Zookeeper Stories podcast.
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